Owens Corning Kansas City plant - Executive Summary |
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.0 INTRODUCTION Owens Corning is committed to achieving environmental leadership within its industry and beyond. The Insulation Systems Business Unit (ISB), of which the Kansas City Insulation Plant is a key part, demonstrates this pursuit of excellence by proactively managing its operations to reduce environmental impacts while improving the quality of its products and the well-being of its employees and the community. ISB Environmental has implemented a programmatic approach to compliance with the EPA's Risk Management Program (RMP) Rule. All of the business unit's manufacturing facilities will address process safety and risk management issues for key materials utilized by the plants in manufacturing fiberglass insulation products. The program will fulfill the general duty clause requirement in the RMP rule. Facilities, like Kansas City, with threshold quantities above the RMP triggers, have utilized a management manual system to comply with the requirements of RMP. This submittal only characterizes the subject processes that require a RMP submittal and certification by June 21, 1999. The Kansas City plant holds Environmental Stewardship, along with Safety, Productivity, and Quality, as one of its (4) driving principles. Located in the Fairfax Industrial District for 52 years, the Kansas City plant is an integral part of the Kansas City, Kansas community. Membership in such organizations as Friends of Fairfax and the Wyandotte County Coalition for Chemical Safety emphasize the importance with which the plant views their commitment. 2.0 ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION AND EMERGENCY RESPONSE POLICIES Owens Corning is committed to developing and operating its manufacturing facilities in a manner protective of the environment and human health. This priority is expressed through continuing process improvement, risk reduction, and an emphasis on pollution prevention. In order to produce the quality products that Ow ens Corning is known for, the Kansas City facility uses a 50% formaldehyde solution in the manufacturing of fiberglass binder resin for use at the facility. Because this is a toxic chemical, numerous controls have been implemented to prevent an accidental release of this chemical. In the event of a release, the Kansas City facility has an emergency response program that will be implemented. This program is made up of hourly and management employees who have been properly trained in certain elements of emergency response, as well as communication with the appropriate responder organizations in the community. 3.0 DESCRIPTION OF THE FACILITY AND REGULATED PROCESSES The Kansas City facility, located at 300 Sunshine Road in Kansas City, Kansas, is a producer of wool glass fibers, which are fabricated into insulation materials. Glass fiber manufacturing involves the high- temperature conversion of various materials into a homogeneous melt, followed by the fabrication of thi s melt into glass fibers. After the formation of the glass fibers, a thermosetting chemical binder solution is applied to the fibers. The glass fibers and binder solution are then collected on a conveyor belt where they are sent through a large curing oven and then through a cooling section. The result is a mat that is then cut into batts or rolls of the desired dimensions and then packaged. Kansas City Insulation plant has a single covered process that is subject to RMP. The 50% formaldehyde solution that is utilized in a process to manufacture the binder resin is a Program Level 3 process. The formaldehyde resin is a binder system ingredient used to manufacture wool fiberglass insulation at the plant. 4.0 HAZARD ASSESSMENT RESULTS Owens Corning has determined the distance to the toxic endpoints for the regulated substance present at the Kansas City facility. The following release scenarios have been considered: 50% Formaldehyde Aqueous formaldehyde is stored in two 15,000-gallon storage tanks. The tanks are located in a diked containment area. Trucks unload the material through a 3-inch hose. All truck unloading takes place in a separate containment area designed for that purpose. Both the storage tanks and the truck are maintained at 150? F. Worst-case release is an instantaneous release of the maximum inventory of one tank, which forms a liquid pool in the dike. The release duration is assumed to be 60-minutes because the concentration of formaldehyde in solution after 10-minutes of evaporation is not significantly lower than the initial concentration. Distance to Endpoint - 0.456 miles (ALOHA) The alternative release involves a failure of the unloading hose during product delivery resulting in a release of 500 gallons over a 5-minute period. The liquid released from the line/hose break is contained in the truck unloading area. Distance to Endpoint - 0.116 miles (ALOHA) The release scenarios examine d above could result in off-site impact. Both OCA guidance look-up table values and air dispersion modeling results for the toxic compounds via ALOHA were examined and reported as indicated. 5.0 GENERAL ACCIDENTAL RELEASE PREVENTION/CHEMICAL- SPECIFIC PREVENTION STEPS Mitigation measures were considered in formulating the alternative scenarios since unloading incidents are the most commonly occurring accident type. Accidental releases are mitigated by an aggressive spill reporting program and operator and Emergency Response Team training in spill response. 6.0 FIVE-YEAR ACCIDENT HISTORY No documented off-site impacting accidents have occurred within the last five years. 7.0 EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROGRAM Kansas City maintains an up-to-date Emergency Response Plan and conducts annual drills to train on response procedures. In addition, the Kansas City plant maintains an Emergency Response Team on all shifts. The Emergency Response Team is trained in personal rescue, fir st aid, and response to chemical release. 8.0 PLANNED CHANGES TO IMPROVE SAFETY The following list of capital improvements represents an investment of approximately $100,000 made during the last two years in upgraded process safety controls and other equipment to mitigate and reduce the prospect of an accidental release. Formaldehyde Storage Tanks - Barrier Wall Redesign of Formaldehyde Scrubber Pipe Bridge spill containment - Tank Farm to Binder Room Pipe Bridge spill containment - Phenol unloading to Reactor Building Pipe Bridge spill containment - Tank Farm to Reactor Building Ultrasonic probe level monitors installed - Formaldehyde and Phenol Tanks Freeze protection enclosures around critical unloading and transfer pumps Grounding of tanks Replaced much hot water heat tracing with electric New surface on reactor containment area Modified resin recirculation loop, and added double-sealed pump In 1998, the plant received approval for a three-year extensive pr ogram for upgrade of facilities associated with the chemical processes surrounding resin manufacture and binder mixing (of which some of the above-mentioned projects are a part). This program, aimed primarily at release prevention and automation of certain manual processes, will further reduce likelihood of accidental chemical releases. The total value of this capital investment is $924,000 DATA ELEMENTS |